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Managing migraines at home

Description

A migraine is a common type of headache. It may occur with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, or sensitivity to light. Most people feel a throbbing pain on only one side of their head during a migraine.

Some people who get migraines have warning signs, called an aura, before the actual headache begins. An aura is a group of symptoms that includes vision changes. An aura is a warning sign that a bad headache is coming.

Migraine headaches can be triggered by certain foods. The most common are:

Any processed, fermented, pickled, or marinated foods, as well as foods that contain monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Alternative Names

When You Get a Migraine

Try to treat your symptoms right away. This may help make the headache less severe. When migraine symptoms begin:

Drink water to avoid dehydration, especially if you have vomited

Rest in a quiet, darkened room

Place a cool cloth on your head

Over-the-counter pain medicines, such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or aspirin, are often helpful when your migraine is mild.

Your health care provider may have prescribed medicines to stop a migraine. These drugs come in different forms. They may come as a nasal spray, rectal suppository, or injection instead of pills. Other medicines can treat nausea and vomiting.

Follow your provider's instructions about how to take all of your medicines. Rebound headaches are headaches that keep coming back. They can occur from overuse of pain medicine. If you take pain medicine more than 3 days a week on a regular basis, you can develop rebound headaches.

Preventing Migraine Headaches

A headache diary can help you identify your headache triggers. When you get a headache, write down:

Day and time the pain began

What you ate and drank over the past 24 hours

How much you slept

What you were doing and where you were right before the pain started

How long the headache lasted and what made it stop

Review your diary with your provider to identify triggers or a pattern to your headaches. This can help you and your provider create a treatment plan. Knowing your triggers can help you avoid them.

Lifestyle changes that may help include:

Avoid triggers that seem to bring on a migraine headache.

Get regular sleep and exercise.

Slowly decrease the amount of caffeine you drink every day.

Learn and practice stress management. Some people find relaxation exercises and meditation helpful.

If you have frequent migraines, your provider may prescribe medicine to reduce the number of them. You need to take this medicine every day for it to be effective. Your provider may have you try more than one drug before deciding which works best for you.

When to Call the Doctor

Call 911 if:

You are experiencing "the worst headache of your life."

You have speech, vision, or movement problems or loss of balance, especially if you have not had these symptoms with a headache before.

A headache starts suddenly.

Schedule an appointment or call your provider if:

Your headache patterns or pain changes.

Treatments that once worked are no longer help.

You have side effects from your medicine.

You are pregnant or could become pregnant. Some medicines should not be taken during pregnancy.

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